69 pages • 2 hours read
William Pene du BoisThe 21 Balloons
Fiction | Novel | Middle Grade | Published in 1947A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more. For select classroom titles, we also provide Teaching Guides with discussion and quiz questions to prompt student engagement.
Further Reading & Resources
Further Reading: Literature
Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift (1726)
Similar to The Twenty-One Balloons and other adventure stories of the time, the protagonist of Gulliver’s Travels visits imagined continents and meets fantastical inhabitants and creatures.
- Gulliver’s Travels on SuperSummary
Five Weeks in a Balloon by Jules Verne (1863)
The first big hit by Verne—author of Around the World in Eighty Days and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea—this novel describes a mid-1800s journey across central Africa in a hydrogen-filled balloon. The small crew has many adventures and hair-raising escapes as it learns about the vast continent, meets local inhabitants, and searches for the origin of the Nile River. The book serves as literary source material for The Twenty-One Balloons.
Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne (1872)
Similar to the protagonist of The Twenty-One Balloons, wealthy British gent Phileas Fogg lives a solitary, minutely scheduled life. The story follows his journey after accepting a bet that he cant ravel around the world in 80 days.
- Around the World in 80 Days on SuperSummary
Further Reading: Beyond Literature
This Seattle Ballooning article recounts the history of balloon flight, from the first rides by French inventors to present-day high-tech balloons.
